Advice for a Fashion Shoot

[itsTylerRandall]

I'm doing a fashion shoot with a friend after school for her fashion blog.

Do you have any advice as to what I can do to make it a good shoot? It is a chic style shoot if that helps.

Any kind of advice would be great. Preferably how to frame the subject (like "S" shapes for sitting positions) and exposure/lighting.

It will be outside in a meadowish area so I want to try and work with my surroundings.

[tyasa81]

hi tyler,

i take a look at your flickr stream... and i remember some of the photos you posted in the critique section... bear in my i did not do fashion photography either... but in the spirit of giving advice from a layman view and a photog enthusiast, your photos does not give that high inspirational feeling yet...

#1 - look at more fashion mags, borrow from your gf who is your model too... and try to de construct some of the photos you like
#2 - watch the lighting... most fashion shots are artificially lit in a controlled environtment (need not be studio, but definitely where the photog have some say on where the light should land)
#3 - posing... begin with the books you read in #1.. and copy several and see which one you like

you should definitely see an improvement if you can do all the 3 things above...

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by itsTylerRandall

It will be outside in a meadowish area so I want to try and work with my surroundings.

this is the thing you have to be most careful with I think. What time of the day will it be? Do you have flash, and more importantly, know how to use it in order to compensate for potentially harsh lighting?

What are the pictures trying to sell/show? If it's clothes, think of clothes-centric poses/images. If it's more about general style, make sure your images (and potentially the post processing) highlights the attitude and personality of the subject and or style you're trying to represent.

Also, have a reflector and someone to help you with it.

And most importantly, be prepared. Have ideas ready when you're there. Know what you want to do, how you want to light it before you ever show up. So much of fashion is about attitude and personality.. but if your subject is sitting around as you try to think of ideas or fiddle with your settings because you're trying to figure things out on the fly, I promise your images will reflect that. So be prepared. Have ideas. Engage your subject in advance to relax them. Keep it smooth. Move fast and confidently and it'll show in the subject.

Good luck.. and post some results!

One of my favorites, Lou O'Bedlam does great outdoors work with natural light and I think a lot of his work can be transposed to "fashion"... check him out HERE. Warning, not all images safe for work.

[itsTylerRandall]

Thank you all for the great advice. I already did the shoot, but I will keep this in mind for future shots